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Monthly Archives: January 2012

BBC News has reported that there is “strong evidence of a link between exercise and academic performance”. The news service says that a review of previous research found a link, which could be due to exercise increasing the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain.

What a great standing abdominal exercise you can do at home with just a belt? Easy! what you need to do is place the belt loosely around your waist, now engage your deepest abdominal muscles by pulling your belly button in tight, hold this and now fasten your belt to your smaller waist, then as soon as you stop working your abdominals you will instantly know as your belt will feel tight, which will remind you to pull them straight back in!

If you want your kids (or you) to stop cramming food into their mouths too fast then why not challenge them to eat with their non-dominant hand?! Research shows that it can make you pay attention to what your doing and makes everything a bit slower. Try it-just be prepared for a bit of mess!

Every wonder how families stay healthy, fit and thin? Well I have some answers for you! Notepads at the ready!!

Don’t go hungry – To stay at a healthy weight, you have to eat, not starve yourself. If you don’t fuel up regularly, you’ll become insatiably hungry, causing the hunger hormone, ghrelin, to spike. Keep healthy snacks around the house like almonds, chopped fruit and credites and don’t be surprised to see your kids nibbling on them throughout the day.

Make breakfast and lunch part of your day – Without a healthy go-to option for each, you’re far more likely to make bad spur-of-the-moment grabs. Starts the day with a bowl of oats with flaxseed oil, a few walnuts, and some raisins for sweetness and make some soup for lunch. You can even ask your children to help you. You chop the ingredients up and then they whizz it up in the blender. Fun!! Serve with a wedge of crusty wholemeal bread!

Exercise 20 minutes a day—at home – You don’t have to go somewhere to exercise, and making your way to the gym is just too time consuming! 20 minutes at home is simple; skip in your back garden, and alternate with crunches and push-ups; or do 20 minutes of a workout video; there are loads to choose from!

Be the food decider in your house – I know this can be tough for parents, but the big decisions about what to eat must be made by you at the supermarket; If you bring crisps and chocolate home, your kids (and you) will naturally want to eat them. Keep healthy snacks on hand (like nuts and pretzels) and fruit and veggies washed and chopped in your fridge. Kids will eat healthy snacks when they get hungry enough!

This year, make sure your New Year’s fitness resolution includes your kids. Doing so could make working out and losing weight a lot more fun!

Top get them and you in the swing of things, my advice is to engage them with fun things and even make exercise a little unusual to get them excited about working out.

For example, if you say, we’re going to take the kids out for a walk this evening, most kids are going to say, ‘Wait, we have to leave the playstation?” so you need to make the activity fun while making it something that is sports-oriented or game-oriented!

Children need at least 60 minutes a day of physical activity, including muscle-strengthening exercises. Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. See the lights. Around Christmas and Halloween, there are plenty of interesting light displays to see in your neighbourhood – go to the areas that can’t be seen from the road and surprise them.

2. Aim for two to three activities a week, tol help you reach your daily fitness goal of 30 minutes of moderate activity five times a week.

3. Walk to school. That burst of activity in the morning can change their day and boost their concentration levels!

4. Replace pizza and a movie night with family fitness night at least once a month.Have a match using the Wii, do a dance off using a Zumba DVD or play golf, by putting the ball in a teacup. Get the kids excited about it.

5. Check out the fitness attractions your city offers. How about Kid’s bootcamp classes like mine or a running group or rock-climbing?

6. Make a fitness wish list with the kids. Write down every physical activity they’d like to do, and let them choose a few every month.

7. Play like a kid. A half-hour of IT, British ball dog or Traffic Lights is good exercise for you and your children. Ask them to teach you a new game that they might play at school!

8. Take it outside. Go to a park or nature preserve and climb muddy hills, climb over stilies or feed the horses carrots in the local field.

9. Make eating out or after-dinner treats a physical activity. Walk to the restaurant or shop from home

10. Join a running club or event like Park Run, or a netball or football group. They all offer opportunities for you and your kids to have fun getting fit.

Over-protective parents must let their children play in the street to save them from obesity, Labour’s Diane Abbott recently the Standard (thisislondon.co.uk).

Ms Abbott, the shadow public health minister, said: “I think London kids are especially at risk because so many mums and dads are fearful about letting them play in the streets. I think parents need to be tougher on their kids’ diets to save them from ill-health. Carrying on with the chips and PlayStation 3 culture is not an option.”

NHS figures have revealed that more than one in five children in London are obese by the time they leave primary school. The problem is worse in the capital than in any other UK region.

Ms Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said Londoners needed a “revolution” in their approach to children’s lifestyles.

“Schools should be on the front line in the battle against obesity. Healthy school dinners and the teaching of domestic science are crucial tools in improving health.

“It is important that we develop an environment where people can make healthy choices – and that we understand the significance of issues like safe play areas for kids, physical activity and also of the advertising of junk food, sugary soft drinks and alcohol.

Childhood obesity costs the capital £7.1 million a year to treat, and the National Child Measurement Programme found that 21.9 per cent of London children were obese when they left primary school, compared with 19 per cent nationally and 16.5 per cent in the South Central region, which includes Oxfordshire and Hampshire.

Children raised in towns and cities were more likely to be overweight, suggesting that outdoor play and exercise could be a factor.

Scary figures eh?

I think we do have to be very careful of letting our kids run around in the streets. But if you have a big back garden why not encourage them to get outside and play. Playstations and computer games are really not as fun as old-fashioned games like IT or tag. Why not take advantage of parks too? Swinging and climbing and swinging all use far more muscles that pressing a remote control, which burns calories and helps fight this obesity crisis affecting us. Come on parents, its time we took charge of getting our children fighting fit and in the best shape for their future!